


Fifteenth of the Month

by OmniscientProstitute



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Falcon - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Sam has friends from before
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7139759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmniscientProstitute/pseuds/OmniscientProstitute
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam takes scheduled breaks from Avenging.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifteenth of the Month

Every fifteenth of the month Sam leaves. He is showered and dressed by seven-thirty and out the door by eight. He would return to the compound around eight at night with a bag of pastries for the next morning. It had been tradition even when Steve and Natasha had stayed at his house while they were looking for Bucky. Natasha had wanted to follow him, but Steve had told her to leave Sam alone and enjoy the coffee he had left for them. When Falcon became a non-Avenger Tony had tried to bug Sam, but quickly found out that the ex-soldier did not mind walking in the pouring rain. Clint managed to track him for two blocks before losing Sam in a sea of people. He returned to the compound to find Wanda looking amused, "Why do all of you want to know where he goes so badly?" Vision asked in Tony's honor. Sam replied "Nowhere important," with a small smile.

Then Sam became Bucky's primary caretaker through his un-Winter Soldier-ing process. Steve was too emotionally compromised to treat Bucky the way he needed so Sam was put in charge. Still Sam would leave. Bucky would mope and spend his day with Natasha training. Sam would come back at eight with an extra treat and an apology for Bucky, who would always forgive him. He never asked where Sam went, but he wanted desperately to know.

Sam leaned back in his chair; hand wrapped firmly around his coffee. It was raining, cold spring rain that leached warmth from the body. Days like these were the worst for Bucky and Sam felt guilty for leaving, but he needed a little taste of the way things use to be. Rose walked through the door with a relaxed smile. "Good morning Major General."

"Wilson." She sat down, always amused by Sam's teasing. "I have tickets for the new Star Wars movie at eleven today."

"Sweet. I ordered you a Denver Omelette."

"Thank you." Rose picked up a packet of sugar. "It's getting worse."

"I don't want to talk about-"

"I'm not talking about your cool new friends." Sam rolled his eyes at her stern gaze. "I'm talking about your feelings, which I would talk about disregarding who you had feelings for."

"I'll get over it. Bucky and Steve love each other, I'm not going to mess that up." Rose took Sam's hand for a moment.

"You're sure it's romantic love?"

"I can't let myself consider other options."

They finished lunch on other topics, and managed to refrain from discussing Sam's new friends until they were parting at seven-forty-five. "I have been invited to an event at Stark's are you comfortable with my appearance there?"

"Rose, you should know you don't have to ask my approval-"

"Samuel Wilson."

"I was invited to the same event." Sam rubbed at his face. "The Avenger's want to get better acquainted with the military, should be harmless enough. I'll have you be my plus one."

Sam pressed his forehead against the cool surface of Rose's fridge. He could hear her black heels on the hardwood floor. Rose made no comment just straightened her numerous medals and lead Sam to her car. The two were invisible for most of the night until one of Rose's underlings pulled Steve and Bucky over to them. He saluted Rose before making a quick escape. Steve stuck his hand out, always a gentleman. "Private Steve Rodgers and Sergeant James Barnes."

"Major General Rose Sterling. I believe you already know Samuel Wilson."

"Yes we do." Steve was studying Sam. "We didn't know he was friendly with you Major General Sterling."

"Please, call me Rose. Sam prefers to separate work from play. I have not always approved of this practice." She smirked at Sam. "Sergeant Barnes would you mind a dance, before negotiations begin?" Steve flinched towards Bucky. 

"I wouldn't mind, but uh call me Bucky."

"Of course," they drifted away from Sam and Steve. "Private Rodgers seems lovely. How long have the two of you been partners?"

"We aren't partners. Steve is like a brother to me." Bucky's face pinkened at the assumption.

"Oh, I apologize whenever Sam would mention you he made it seem-" Bucky noted that although her face remained embarrassed her eyes danced with delight.

"You and Sam_"

"Are strictly friends. I have known him for too long to be interested romantically." Bucky caught Sam glaring at Rose from across the room. "I suppose I should have you return me to Private Rodgers so I may do the business I was sent here for."

Bucky found Sam leaning against the kitchen bar talking to Natasha who was trying to be subtle about watching Rose. "You should ask her to dinner. Rose's gotten less action than I have."

"Is that appropriate for a Major General?" Bucky teased.

"I'm not worried about being appropriate." Natasha snarked back. "I'm worried about her being interested."

"I can't believe you're condoning this when you haven't let us meet her for years." Bucky made pointed eye-contact with Sam. 

"I wanted to protect her." Bucky rolled his eyes.

"She's a Major General! A Marine!"

"And it looks like Steve is done negotiating." Natasha removed herself from the conversation leaving Sam and Bucky in awkward silence.

"Rose said you thought Steve and I were going steady." Sam rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling begging God for help. "We aren't."

"It doesn't matter, it's none of my or her concern. Your relationship with Steve is irrelevant." Sam trained his eyes on Natasha. His heart was thundering in his throat. Azure eyes burrowed into the side of his face.

"Stop me if I'm wrong, but are you interested in me?" It would have been easy to say no, to retreated to safe territory, but he couldn't lie to Bucky.

"Yes." It was barely audible.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Some of it was Steve, he was the one who dragged me around the world looking for you for God's sake. The other part was fear of the time period. It took Steve a few weeks to not accidentally be racist of homophobic. You're also going through really intense emotional stuff, I didn't want to be a complication." Bucky's brow was furrowed.

"Steve had always been socially conscious," Sam had to laugh at the fact that Steve's lack of political correctness was the first topic Bucky wanted to discuss.

"Bent, isn't exactly an acceptable term anymore." Sam noted Bucky's nod of understanding.

"Did you know that I remembered what desire felt like because of you?" Sam realized that they were having a very private conversation in a very public place. "At first I was amazed that you could build so much muscle without using any serum or steroids. Then I walked in on you boxing shirtless, sweat dripping down your back, your muscles tensing every time you hit the punching bag. I wanted to touch you. I couldn't remember feeling anything like that before, I could only remember touching causing pain. I didn't want to hurt you." Sam felt like he was burning with self-consciousness. "I began to feel protective of you. Whenever Steve would hit you too hard during training I struggled to stay in check. I yelled at him once, he use to forget that not everyone had Super Soldier strength, I couldn't stand him forgetting when you were on the receiving end." Bucky was staring straight ahead studying the crowd. "Steve wanted me to take you out to dinner or something, but you leave every fifteenth of the month."

"I'm with Rose. She's the only non-Avenger affiliated friend I have." Sam watched Rose laugh with Natasha. "Well she was."

"You don't have to be an Avenger."

"I'm not, technically." Sam stared into his half full beer and searched for his words. "Tomorrow after we have a meeting about tonight's successes would you want to go to lunch with me?"

"I don't know if restaurants are a good idea."

"I know a good place. " Sam smiled reassuringly. "A real whole in the wall, nobody goes there."

On the next fifteenth of the month Sam left the compound only after he had received a parting kiss from Bucky. It was more like an invitation for a quickie, but Sam was paranoid Rose would be able to tell. He promised to make it up to Bucky when he returned. The morning was warm leaving slick dew on the street signs. Sam relaxed in his seat the caffeine in front of him half consumed out of habit rather than need. Rose walked in as she normally did with an air of respect Sam always laughed at. "Good morning Major General."

"Wilson." She smiled in response to Sam's teasing. "We have tickets for the new James Bond movie at ten-thirty."

"Awesome, I ordered you a Denver Omelette."

"Thank you." Rose twisted the black and red band around her finger. "How's Bucky?"

"Upset that I left him in bed by himself this morning." Rose smiled and took Sam's hand for a moment. "Nat may be dropping by your place later."

"I'm happy with how things ended." Rose stated as they left the diner.

"Me too."


End file.
